Auto thefts a byproduct of winter chill

Thursday

Mar 20, 2014 at 2:24 PMMar 20, 2014 at 2:52 PM

By Brian LeafRockford Register Star

ROCKFORD — The frigid winter was friendly to auto thieves.

“This year alone in the city of Rockford, 45 percent of vehicles stolen thus far were left running and unattended,” said Illinois State Police Sgt. Mark Galindo, director of the Northern Illinois Auto Theft Task Force.

Galindo said many of the cars were stolen because people started them, then left them unattended as they went inside until the vehicles were warm, or went into a business to run an errand.

Once stolen, the vehicles may have been cut up into parts and sold as scrap or used as a getaway vehicle.

“By and large what we’re seeing in the Rockford area is that they steal them to commit other crimes,” he said.

Galindo made his comments Thursday at a town hall event at Northern Illinois University’s Rockford campus on East State Street that was intended to raise awareness of the task force and its efforts to reduce car theft and burglaries to cars.

The task force, a collaboration of seven agencies funded with a $600,000 state grant, has started a public awareness campaign to further its mission of reducing the number of vehicles stolen in Winnebago and Boone counties, and bring offenders to court.